Xi Jinping Lands Joint Base Andrews Maryland September 23 2026 Trump Melania On Tarmac Rare Planeside Greeting Instead Of White House 100-Foot Red Carpet Air China Boeing 747 First China State Visit Washington Over Decade
Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Washington on Wednesday, where he was met with a rare planeside greeting from President Donald Trump, who was there to welcome his counterpart instead of waiting for him to drive up to the White House. WBTV
Trump’s decision to greet Xi at Joint Base Andrews just outside Washington rather than receiving him at the executive residence shows how far the US president is going to honour China’s leader as he made his first state visit to the US capital in more than a decade. A 100-foot red carpet was unfurled at the bottom of the staircase placed at the door of Xi’s Air China Boeing 747, where he and Peng Liyuan spent several minutes chatting with Trump and Melania Trump.
As Trump welcomed Xi at Joint Base Andrews, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced the extension of the trade truce, under which the countries agreed to scale back tariffs and refrain from imposing new trade restrictions, until January.
Thursday will bring an arrival ceremony at the White House and a review of troops. Before the black-tie dinner; which will feature tech industry leaders including Nvidia’s Jensen Huang and SpaceX’s Elon Musk; the two leaders are expected to tackle the weighty issues behind closed doors, even as expectations are low that the trip will produce any major breakthroughs. On Friday, Xi and Peng will return to the White House for a private tea with the Trumps before joining them on a tour of the National Archives to view historic documents underscoring the relationship between the two countries.
The trade truce extension to January is the clearest concrete output of the visit so far. Three days, two superpowers, low expectations and a 100-foot red carpet at Andrews.
Check out our previous coverage of US-China relations on The Trusted Times.
